The design would incorporate two drones, one to fly in front of the bicycle and the second to fly in rear, to improve the visibility of the cyclist. The system would be equipped with a camera—“the original idea was to record accidents, but you could make a whole movie of your ride,” Eubanks says.According to Eubanks, the design is three to five years away from being a viable product.

This time, I had no mounting issues whatsoever, since my Big Dummy offers plenty of real estate for lights and other gewgaws, and I was able to easily strap the Fly6 right onto the bridge of Dark Helment's nose.

Thus affording the device a panoramic view:

You can't tell because it's only a screenshot, but I am bombing the fuck out of that hill at my kid's request.

Unfortunately, what comes down must go up:

It may not look like much of a hill, but a Big Dummy complete with human child weighs more than a Volkswagen Beetle, and it's just when I'm going anaerobic that the aforementioned child decides to assail me with questions such as "What is the earth made of?" while kicking me in the calves.

Alas, there's not much in the way of motor vehicular mayhem in my part of town, though you should never underestimate the danger posed by elderly drivers:

(There are no elderly drivers in this photo, but they're lurking, believe me.)

Obvious threats such as yellow cabs are one thing, but the insidious "slow burn" of a driver born during the Taft administration emerging from a CVS parking lot is infinitely more terrifying. They don't turn, they don't stop for signals. Instead, they just creep inexorably forward like a Panzer tank across the Sudetenland, flattening anything in their path

Depending on my mood, sometimes I actually prefer the mayhem of midtown Manhattan to quiet residential neighborhoods, in the same way you might prefer dying in a hail of bullets to being slowly crushed by the trash compactor in "Star Wars."

Anyway, we successfully negotiated the blue-haired minefield, and then I dropped the kid off at the Apple factory so he and his fellow laborers can assemble the new iPhone. Next, I headed for the train station, and on the way an apartment shuttle pulled the old gun-it-as-the-light's-changing thing:

This underscored the shortcoming of only having a rear camera, but if I were to get one for the front too then I'd have to hire a grip and deal with the teamsters, not to mention the 36-hour editing sessions after every ride.

Arriving at the train station, I parked the Big Dummy someplace where it could enjoy a pleasing view in my absence:

Here's "Your's Truley," walking around the bike to get the up-locking supplies from the bike's cargo bags:

Note I'm wearing my Brooks "Inspector Gadget" jacket. Say what you will about the price (I suggest "Are you fucking kidding me?") and some of the goofy features (the blue straps so you can hang it off your back are particularly superfluous), but I have to say that I wear this thing all the time, on and off the bike, and it's phenomenal.

Also, the soothing tan color helps mollify the blue-hairs.

Next, I locked up the bike, and as the chain enters the camera's field of vision you can see that I'm not messing around:

And then I turned off the Fly6, revealing, as always, that I have at least one "bat in the cave," not to mention a nose hair thatch to rival that of any blue-haired driver:

Hey, at this time of year there's always going to be lots of mucus happening, no matter how often I wipe my nose on the sleeve of my Inspector Gadget jacket.

Finally, I pocketed the Fly6, took a parting shot of the Big Dummy, and headed down to the platform:

The new bike-share system has endured a brutal first winter, and it shows.So far in February, Citi Bikers have taken only about 7,500 trips a day. That’s down from nearly 10,000 a day in January, which was a pretty nasty time to be outside, too.

I don't know, that does't sound so low to me. Frankly, given the winter we've been having, I'm surprised anybody is riding the goddamn things at all. So, upon disembarking in Manhattan, I decided to subject the Fly6 to further testing by taking a gratuitous Citi Bike ride.

Sadly, as you can see, there were only two bikes at the nearest station:

One has the reversed saddle that is the universal symbol for "bike's busted," and the other was simply out of order.

I was about to give up on the whole Citi Bike thing, but at that very moment fate smiled upon me when a woman returned one of the coveted azure corporate clunkers:

In mere seconds I mounted the Fly6:

Switched it on:

Swung a leg over the bike:

And took off.

The first thing I noticed was that the bike was pretty wonky, and I could feel the pedal spindles wiggling underneath my feet. The seatpost clamp was also a bit loose, so if you watch the Fly6 video the camera's sort of wagging like it's on the tail of a mildly pleased dog. I'm sure I was wreaking havoc with by biomechanics, and had I been using a Shark saddle no doubt it would have been sending sharp warning pains directly into my anus.

Still, the bike worked, and that's all that mattered. Plus, as I entered the bike lane, I had the added assurance of the camera:

Just try it, you fuckers.

In fact, between my Inspector Gadget camera and the Fly6, I was positively brimming with confidence and weaving through traffic as though it was standing still:

Mostly because it was, in fact, standing still.

By the way, if you've lived in New York City for more than three days you've almost been killed at least seventeen times by a vehicle from "C.C. Rentals:"

Incredibly this one in particular didn't encroach on me, but as far as I can tell, patrons of C.C. Rentals are under strict instructions to attack cyclists.

Then, this guy tried to erect a hasty barrier in the bike lane, but I was too fast for him:

After which I took a daring inside line in order to pass a Doritos truck:

You should never take the inside line when passing a Doritos truck or indeed any truck, but I'm a semi-professional bike blogger equipped with both a Fly6 and an incredibly expensive Inspector Gadget jacket, so I can pull it off.

I can also cut off taxi cabs:

Deal with it.

At the next intersection, I found myself in front of a twin-pronged threat that will be immediately familiar to any New York City cyclist, that being the Access-a-Ride car and the fucked-up van:

Complete with license plate affixed to bumper with dental floss:

(Almost as threatening as a Pennsylvania license plate, which is the most threatening of all delivery van license plates.)

Both of these vehicles will not hesitate to run you over the moment the light turns green, which is why you should always give yourself a head start whenever possible:

But not too much of a head start, because they'll get you for running a red light if you're too obvious about it:

It's all part of "Vision Zero" or something.

Finally, I arrived at the Citi Bike station:

Where I docked the bike with much determination:

Switched off the Fly6:

(Dr. Wildkatz-Rockmanstein, proctologist.)

And left the wonky Citi Bike with its siblings:

By the way, check out the paparazzo on Rollerblades looking to snag a celebrity:

nice 3 minute ride on the citibike. I also am getting a kick out of the Fly-6 stuff. At first I thought teh Fly-6 was a pretty stupid idea, well I still do, but liking the fly-6 video commentary. Keep up the good work.

Add me to the pool that wants to see at least a small snippet of video along with the stills. The stills are hilariously commentated upon, but sometimes I want to feast my eyes on something that moves for like, 30 seconds. Ya know?

The part of my brain that knows the Fly6 faces backward refuses to talk to the part of my brain that looks at the pictures and says "you're going the wrong way." I doubt I should be trusted with drones.

I'm going to buy a Shark seat, send it to Viet Nam to be replicated at an inhumanly small cost. Then I'll brand it as a woman's saddle, and name it after my cousin (who is my biggest investor). Introducing, the world's first women's finned bicycle cycycling saddle, THE BUSTER HYMAN!!!

Did you make the return journey? Did you get a less wonky blue bike for the return trip? Did the paparazzo catch his prey? Did you surreptitiously shoot video on the train you're not sharing with us? When you "swung a leg over the bike", the bike appeared to be fully upright, necessitating a flamboyant airing-of-the-scanus to mount the bike, is this an appropriate display in public?

And lay off CC Rentals -- not only did they not encroach on you, you encroached on them! You're so close to the bike lane marking line it's embarrassing.

DBThe local paper's headline on El Chapo was "Feds Nab Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1." I think the city has a website where international criminals can upload resumes to fill the spot.

Not sure I'm up to it, even though I was eating tamales from a food truck when I saw your post. I think I'd call myself La Marmota for Harold Ramis, and each time I was hauled off by the feds I'd growl "I'll be back."

lay off wildcat youall. I'd certainly rub it in all your faces if I could sit in my underwear eating frooty loops and get expensive free stuff.

Yer all just jealous. I know I am. I never got paid anything for porting a kid to school. Well nothing beyond the obvious peace of mind after dumping the little bastards on the system for free baby sitting.

Yeah, but maybe Liz will join Levi when he comes to visit, and it will all be worth it... anything's possible, right?

I like the idea that I would never have to ride solo again. Um. But I'm not the smartest crash test dummy in the peloton, and so naturally I'm confused. Doesn't somebody have to pilot a drone? If you can get your buddy to pilot the damned thing while you go for a spin, why wouldn't you just have him join you for a ride instead?

But . . . They could put an RFID sticker on you that your drones lock on to. They now know where you are and their internal radar/sonar gps and garmin maps give them all they need to stay on the road but slightly ahead / behind (shark seat or not) of you.

If I could train the drones to attack High Velocity Low Profile Missle Dogs that are indigenous to the Tenn countryside I may actually be down with it. I could nickname them Ass Monkey 1 and Ass Monkey 2.

Hill bombing with kids! I laugh (ha) at the 15mph recommended limit printed in my co-pilot's user-manual. And folks ask why I don't use a front mounting child seat or trailer.

Bats in the cave should eventually, if properly dried, deal with the nose hair problem.

My only interaction with CitiBike is tootling down SF's Embarcadero once a week and observing the almost always full racks. After months and months, I'm not sure I've ever seen more than 2 or 3 bikes gone, even on the nicest days. Way to go NYC!

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About Me

While I love cycling and embrace it in all its forms, I'm also extremely critical. So I present to you my venting for your amusement and betterment. No offense meant to the critiqued. Always keep riding!